Defying The Departure
by PostingTheStories
Summary: On his way home from Kalos, Ash reflects on how his journeys always end alone, and comes to a conclusion: he is sick and tired of losing his friends to time and distance so easily. But at least for a particular blonde friend, he just might get an unexpected chance to do something about it. Amourshipping Week 2017, Prompt: Kiss
1. Chapter 1

**OK folks, full disclosure here - this was NOT written for Amourshipping Week. It was written very shortly after the episode (you can probably guess which one I'm talking about), when there were hardly any reaction fics up. Then I got sidetracked with some other writing challenges and so this got shuffled off to the side, but I spruced it up (and added a ton), and thought, considering the "kiss" prompt was an option, that I might as well stick it in that category.**

* * *

The room was dark, still, quiet. Quiet, unlike a Pokemon Center.

Ash didn't miss the quiet.

Delia Ketchum sat on her son's bed, looking at his back. The only light in the room came from the door, still somewhat ajar.

"I'm not here to judge, Ash. I'm only here to support you and help you."

Ash was quiet, still. He sat at his desk, staring out at the stars in the sky. Even though Pallet was small, there were fewer stars out there than when he was camping out.

He missed the stars.

"Please, tell me what's wrong."

"It's... complicated, mom." Ash strained out, after a few instants. She didn't need to be burdened with this.

It was probably his own fault, anyway.

"...Ash, if you really don't want me to know about it, then I'm not going to force you." She moved to stand, despite her motherly instinct wanting to put her arms around her little boy and make everything better. But he wasn't a five year old anymore, he was a teenager, a hero, and quickly becoming a man. She was proud beyond words, but that meant that his problems grew all the more complicated, and out of her grasp to solve. "But if you change your mind - "

However, the answer to Delia's question was surprisingly simple, for all of the drama surrounding it. Indeed, it had begun to simmer long before this, but today, with the departures of his companions clear in his mind, and still quietly feeling the lingering taste of Serena's lips, it had reached a boiling point. The pressure had to go somewhere, and accordingly, in one outburst, it did.

" **...I'M SICK OF LOSING MY FRIENDS!** " A sharp THUD was audible from the Pokemon trainer's fist as it collided with his desk. Not hard enough to hurt the hand or the desk, but a gesture born out of helplessness, venting frustration that he couldn't speak aloud, could only express physically.

Delia furrowed her brow, seeing perhaps just a glimpse of his father in him, before sitting down again.

She waited to let him continue. He would on his own time. Pikachu, having heard the yelp, wandered in. Saying nothing, the mouse moved to Delia's side, sitting next to her ankle and receiving a scratch behind the ears for his trouble.

Eventually Ash found his voice once more.

"...the only ones I'm still in contact with are Brock and Tracey... and did you know why I picked the Kanto Battle Frontier of all places? So Misty could come back, and..." He shook his head furiously, his words a jumble in his frustration. "And Dawn, I tried to call Dawn just last..." A sharp, slow exhale. He was slightly surprised by his own reaction. Serena had finally been the final, deciding blow, a crack in a dam holding back a river of emotion that had been filling for years, that was now threatening to cascade forth.

"Take your time, dear." Delia said reassuringly, reaching over to take Pikachu into her lap. She remembered how small Ash was when he was a baby. He would never sit in her lap like the mouse did again. She missed it just a little, but had accepted it long ago. But one thing she would not accept was the suffering of the young man who would always be her little boy.

"It's... probably my fault anyway, but..." Ash shook his head, speaking slowly. "...just... every time, EVERY freaking time..." he trailed off again. With some resolve, he pressed on, intent on actually communicating this time.

"It... started, I guess, right after Johto. I tried to keep in touch with Misty. It... it was really, REALLY important to me I did that, she was my best friend."

And a little bit more, Delia thought to herself. She knew her son's affections for the redhead were more than that; half of Kanto did, when they were traveling around. But that was a lifetime ago, and she hadn't seen the redhead in years.

"After the thing at the Mirage Kingdom, and Togepi leaving, maybe... or maybe it was..." He shook his head. Didn't matter. "She started having less and less time for me. I thought after she'd been at the gym she could meet up with me and we could go through the Battle Frontier together, with May and with Brock and with Max. Always let her know she was welcome to join in at any time. But... she started talking less, making excuses, doing whatever she had to, to avoid talking to me..." He sighed quietly. "I don't know what I did. I don't. But then... when I was in the Sinnoh League..." he trailed off, looking towards his mother now, full on.

"It hurt the most with her, 'cuz... we were close..." he trailed off. "...but then, May got harder to get ahold of, too, and Dawn, and... neither of them HAD to leave me to keep with Pokemon Contests, you know? Misty didn't need to stay gone, either... but I can barely get in contact with them anymore, either." He shook his head. "Out of everyone I've traveled with, I'm only able to really still talk to Brock and Tracey." His voice strained, pure frustration oozing out of every word.

"...and I SWEAR, I've _tried_ to be a good friend, but..." He sighed and slumped slightly. "By the time Iris 'n Cilan came around I think I was used to it. Plus Unova's so far away, I wasn't surprised... and really, we never clicked QUITE like with others. Well, they clicked, I didn't." An odd thing, to be the third wheel in the group you lead. He shook his head. "So it just tapered off pretty quick there. But the others, I just..."

"Ash. Stop." Delia stated, glancing down at Pikachu, noting a slightly forlorn expression on the mouse's face. She might have to have a talk with Pikachu later, see if the mouse would tell her more. "I know you better than you think I do. I know just how much you liked Misty - and don't bother denying it, there's no point to that now." Ash slumped slightly, caught just as he was about to mount a protest that he was 'only friends with Misty, honest,' perhaps just out of well-honed reflex if nothing else. "That girl didn't just run away from the gym. She had a _lot_ more problems than that. You managed to get past all of those defenses she had and got her to open up to you. I don't think she had anyone to talk to like that before. You went well out of your way to welcome and help her. How many people would go to the Battle Frontier instead of a League itself like that, and for someone else's sake? Not many. Battle Frontiers are still really new, and they may have taken off quickly, but you didn't know that at the time. It could have been a big waste of time."

A moment passed, and she continued. "I don't know what exactly she was running from. Something haunted her, and she never told either of us. I don't know why she decided she had to run from you. But it wasn't your fault, and it was NEVER your fault. It may not even have been her fault, really. But there's only so much you can help someone, especially if they don't want to be helped. It's possible she didn't, not yet, anyway."

"Pika chu." piped up the mouse quietly, in agreement.

Ash slumped quietly, a long suffering sigh coming from him. Silently, he thought his mother had a point, and while it was logically sound, he still didn't feel quite right, recent events having torn open wounds long since scabbed over.

"As for May and Dawn..." Delia continued, after giving him a moment to reflect on his thoughts. "I didn't know them as well as I knew Misty. But I wouldn't give up on them just yet." Delia scratched Pikachu behind the head in the darkened room; she didn't need to look down to know that he'd slicked back his ears in hopes of scritches. "Honestly, I think they want to make you proud of them. I can't say why they split off from your group, and you're right, they didn't have to leave. But they did, and I could be wrong on this, but I think that they don't want to come back to you empty-handed. You were their mentor, Ash, and deep down, that's going to stick with them for the rest of their lives. The same for Max, he might be following his sister's lead. Chances are, they're going to want to impress you."

Too optimistic, but... possible, Ash thought to himself. "...but now..."

It was Delia's turn to listen again.

Ash rested his hand on the desk, looking out the window. Nothing but green and the rolling hills around Pallet Town. But he knew that, if he could go far enough in that direction, he'd end up in Kalos once again.

"...when I was with Clemont, and Bonnie, and Serena... it was like back when I was with Brock and Misty for the first time. Things felt right - really and completely right - for the first time in a while. We made a unit. A team. We pretty much made up for everyone's weaknesses. We supported each other. I don't think I'd have gotten nearly as far as I did without their help, and now..." he trailed off. Eyes narrowed. "...now all I've got is a pile of 'see-you-laters' and last minute words that shoulda happened months ago and all that stuff that's probably never gonna come true." When he first started his journey, when he told people he'd see them again, he meant it.

But now he rarely even saw his old traveling companions again.

That stung.

"I'm sick of losing my friends, mom." The base of Ash's melancholy, so easy to summarize, yet so very, very difficult to alleviate. "And I mean..." Ash shook his head a little. "...just the last few weeks, so much has HAPPENED..."

"It was. You told me - I'm very, VERY proud of you, by the way."

Her boy, thought Delia, had grown up to be a fine young man. No mother could ask for better. He was a hero, a teacher, a fighter, and eventually almost certainly a champion. For all of the times he may have been a little too absent-minded, he made up for it with quick thinking and ingenuity when everything depended on him. She wondered how many opponents had underestimated him and lost simply because they believed that he was little more than a buffoon.

"Thanks, mom," he said, quietly, flashing her a quick, grateful look.

At least he could rely on his mom and his Pikachu. Two bastions in a world where his friends kept slipping away; even his Pokemon, he thought bitterly. He did what was best for Greninja without hesitation, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. He wondered if he'd have a bond quite like that again with any other Pokemon.

The moment was shattered, however, when Pikachu decided to open his mouth. "Pika ka, pika pi ka pika chu." Ash gave the mouse a quick glare, as though telling him to shut up. Pikachu glared right back at his master; truthfully, Pokemon tended to look at things with much less complexity than humans, and this was no different. Pikachu was going to see to it that his master managed to cut through all the hesitancy and get ALL of this problem sorted out before it could fester more.

Delia, of course, heard what the mouse had said. "...what's this change that Pikachu said happened? Did something happen between our last phone call and when you came back?"

"...kinda."

Very.

"Oh? With your friends?..."

Ash nodded quietly.

"Did you have a fight?" she guessed.

Ash shook his head. Quite the opposite, he thought to himself.

"Did someone get hurt?" Delia tried again, not quite certain what her son was getting at.

Ash shook his head again. "It... wasn't really bad... well, actually it WAS, because everyone was leavin', but..."

"Well, what was it?" Delia asked, looking at her son, who was still looking back at her, a stripe of the light from the hallway illuminating him the slightest bit, so she could see one chocolate brown eye shimmering slightly in the near-total darkness.

He looked away, concealing that eye from her view once again. "It's... complicated, mom, it - "

"Pika pi ka pika pika chu pi pi ka."

Ash leveled a glare at Pikachu much worse than before, which Pikachu promptly ignored. The thin strip of light that fell over part of his face revealed that his cheeks were turning a very bright red very quickly, and he sharply turned away from his mother and Pikachu. Of course, this simply served to confirm Pikachu's interpretation of the events, and indicated that it had indeed impacted her son a great deal.

Delia suppressed the smile she wanted to let light up her face. Her little boy was growing up, and looked like he was getting very close to a sweet girl. But he needed support, not his mother squealing over him.

There would be plenty of time for that later, after all.

Considering what Pikachu said, though, Delia moved right on to the topic at hand. "There's nothing wrong with Serena kissing you, Ash. Has she..."

Ash anticipated that question - had she shown any interest? "I didn't know," he shook his head. "I'm... I don't tend to pick up on this stuff, mom. I dunno if you noticed that. Even when I'm... interested myself..." he turned slightly red, silently appalled to be talking about this with his mother, but finding that he had little recourse. His Pokemon would be of little assistance here, considering how differently they viewed these topics. "...and with Serena... I thought maybe, but I didn't push it, and then..." He grappled with vocabulary. Relationships with the fair sex were already a difficult subject for him, and they did not help him articulate his thoughts at all, leaving out words, concepts, sentences, until it was a jumble that barely conveyed meaning at all. He gripped at the air as though trying to grapple with something unseen, just out of reach of the physical world, as he internally fought to organize his thoughts and articulate them effectively, or at least better than he had been just a few seconds before.

"Then, at the escalator in the airport - she was goin' to another terminal, we couldn't go any farther since we weren't passengers... she said all this stuff and it... clicked. She..." His cheeks grew warm. "...said I was her goal... _ME_ , of all things..." Hours later, he still seemed slightly shocked that the girl would consider _him_ a worthy goal. He idly reached to the back of his neck, scratching it in a nervous habit almost as old as he was. "Stuff started clicking, though, and..." he shook his head. "It's hard to say..."

"So it came together, you'd liked her and she liked you back?" Delia inquired, and Ash blushed, remaining silent, almost feeling as though he were squirming under his mom's gaze. For her part, she didn't seem surprised.

"I was your age once, too, Ash. I know how it is, even with teammates like that."

Ash blinked as he tilted his head. "...you were a trainer?..."

"It's a long story, and it's not the one we're talking about now," Delia said, firmly but gently. There would be time to talk about that later, possibly while she was fussing over her little boy's first girlfriend. But Ash hardly ever spoke of these things and she didn't dare slow it down, lest he be clogged up again. Despite the grim and frustrating situation her son found himself in, Delia had the experience to know that it was probably a great deal less hopeless than Ash seemed to think, and that there were options available to improve it. She needed to let Ash see that, now, if he was able. He might not be; the boy was often so driven by his emotions it might take some time to get through to him.

Ash nodded, turning back to the desk. It was easier to pretend he was talking to the desk, in a way; he couldn't quite bring himself to look at his mother, or even Pikachu, while they discussed what appeared to be the fledgling beginnings of what could be called a "love life."

"It was kinda like... I dunno. She was... offering, SOMETHING and... I accepted, and..." he searched for words once more, fumbling over them. "...she was... she was going downstairs, I'd... I dunno." Accepted her offer to meet her again when she'd grown more? See her when she'd made something of herself? He wasn't sure how to phrase it. "...I accepted SOMETHING, I dunno how to put it, like... she said we'd meet again after she'd improved, and... it was more than just _meeting_ her, and I... kinda accepted it, and... that was that, she went down the escalator. But... something changed, and she ran up the escalator, and..."

"Pika." Pikachu said chirpily, knowing full well how tough it would be for Ash to vocalize the fact that he'd just had his first kiss with the blonde that but a scant two days ago his mother talked to over the video phone. It was strange and sobering in its own way, considering how much time he spent away from his home and with his companions.

Ash gave Pikachu another, barbed look - the mouse didn't have to tell his mom it was a kiss on the lips of all things - but it was half-hearted at best. This entire situation was strange and difficult enough as it is, and he didn't know if he ought to be angry or grateful towards the electric rodent. He decided that a reaction was irrelevant now; she'd already heard it, and he was miserable enough, and feeling sufficiently alone that he didn't think he wanted Pikachu on his bad side right that minute.

Delia had a harder time suppressing the smile now, and despite her best efforts a bit of it leaked out. "...there are worse fates than kissing a girl you like, Ash," she mentioned, gently. There was a bit of teasing to her tone, but it was careful and measured; just enough to hopefully get him to think a little about things, but not enough for his reflexes to snap and start insisting he wasn't in a relationship with her. She'd seen that one too many times before.

Ash sighed quietly. He turned away. In truth, though he never admitted it to anyone, he'd felt a bit more than friendship towards at least May, and maybe a smidge more towards Dawn, as well. By the time Iris came along he was a bit jaded, which may have impacted his attachment to his friends in Unova, but altogether, of the girls he'd traveled with, only Serena had actually pushed forwards and made her feelings close to plain, even if it WAS at the last minute.

A slow exhale. "I know," he said. Glancing back up at his mother, he hoped for reassurance, and got it, pressing forwards. "But after, I'd... I started thinking that... it had been right in front of me the whole freaking time, waiting for me to GRAB it, and I didn't even SEE it," he muttered in frustration, strain in his voice as though he were still trying to grasp the invisible thing in front of him.

Delia smiled just a little. "Trust me, you're not the only one who has that problem, Ash. Especially kind boys who aren't quite sure where they stand with girls yet. A little too caught up in their own feelings and a little too guarded against rejection to really see what's going on."

"Yeah, but... lookin' back on it..."

He thought to himself. Whatever his relationship with his other female companions, Serena comparatively laid it bare, even if she was subtle. Silently, he kicked himself; he should have noticed SOMETHING, but he didn't let himself think. Not along those lines.

"Lots of little places where she was a little extra nice to you than she had to be? Maybe a little too easily hurt by something you said?" Delia scratched Pikachu's chin, and the mouse seemed to appreciate it.

Ash nodded gently, saying nothing, but sharply remembering the cold sting of freshly thrown snow a couple months prior.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Ash," Delia said. "You can't undo it, and besides, you've learned. Either way, though, all the 'hinting' in the world can't replace simply being flat-out forward. Hoping that someone else will take tiny little gestures as a screaming admission doesn't work very well very often, unless someone involved is a psychic. That's something people your age take some time to learn." She paused in thought. "Some of them got to my age and STILL haven't learned it."

Ash managed a smirk, idly contemplating being 40 and still being clueless. An unsavory possibility that he seems to have managed to avoid, thanks to Serena. If nothing else, perhaps he could avert such a difficult outcome in the future, if he ever needed to. From his perspective, though, he likely would; he didn't relish the idea of it being years until he saw her again. Or possibly never, he inwardly grimaced.

"...but... whatever it was, it just... left, with her, on that escalator," he said, quietly. He glanced away from his mother, away from Pikachu, away from the desk, and out the window. Toward Kalos. Where Serena was. Or not; Hoenn was where she had to be by now, assuming the flights hadn't gotten too delayed, but of the vantage points available, specifically the one window in his house, this was the best way he could feel just a little closer to her.

"This isn't just about Serena," Ash stated, although the amount of discussion about her dominated to the point where it was quite plain that she had the lion's share of his concern. "...but..."

His voice hardened, tapping into his frustration in full. The fact that he may have had some attraction, acknowledged or not, to May or Dawn only made this worse; the situation repeating on a smaller scale. He'd been through this in one way or another, with friends who were platonic or possibly just a little more, too many times.

For perhaps the first time, his constant denial cracked under the strain. "...I don't want her to be another Misty, mom." Ash finished, quietly. "...and I don't want this to turn out like with Dad."

Delia grimaced slightly. Truth be told, the example set by herself and Ash's father was not one to follow, and she suspected, perhaps, that his reluctance towards girls may have somehow been related. She suppressed a pang of guilt; he didn't need her apologies, he needed her help. And that was exactly what he was going to get. She gently set Pikachu down, and stood, walking to Ash's side, laying a hand on his shoulder and squeezing gently.

"She won't be. And it won't."

"...but..."

"No buts. Listen to your mother. Now, I've got a few ideas. What I want you to do is RELAX. You've worked hard. You NEED a break. So just trust me on this, OK? We'll get this fixed whether or not you do, but you're not going to do anyone any favors if you're a mess. Not me, not Serena, not Pikachu, and above all not _yourself_. She'll be fine for a few days while I get a few things sorted out."

"...few _days_?" Ash blinked. "Mom, she's going for - "

"I know what I said, Ash," Delia said, in that firm but gentle tone she took when she was not scolding her son, but confirming some sort of finality with her parental authority. Parental authority that Ash still complied with nearly as perfectly as he did when he was a child.

Ash nodded slightly. Delia smiled and stood, walking out the door - before pausing at the light switch, flipping it on, illuminating the room.

"And stop moping around in the dark, OK?"

"...I'll try." Ash glanced up towards Delia. He looked more spent than she'd seen him in a long, long time, the harrowing events of the last few weeks perhaps finally catching up to him. "...thanks, mom." He reached over to grasp Pikachu, picking him up and depositing him on his own lap.

Delia smiled a little bit before leaving.

She needed to prepare Ash some food; she was certain the boy was starving, whether or not he realized it. After that, she had some phone calls to make - and even more food to prepare to make certain that her boy was well-fed.

If her ideas panned out, Ash might not be at home for much longer at all, anyway...

She could, of course, encourage him to just go to Hoenn to be with Serena, if she wanted a traveling companion. She suspected that Serena would never say 'no,' but having Ash without something to do on his own? That was a last resort option; he'd learn a lot, to be sure, but he'd miss out on a lot, too, and she didn't really think it had to be that way.

No, it wouldn't be that way.

Even if Ash didn't know it, she had enough favors to call in with the Pokemon League to last her a lifetime, after all.

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 **Broke this up into two chapters (possibly three, but probably going to keep it at two). Next chapter tomorrow, hopefully. Thanks for reading and please review if you're so inclined!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Annnnd here's the second part. I'm sorry for the delay; RL was more demanding than I thought, and as such, going over it (and over it and over it) took longer than I thought. Thank you to those who reviewed!**

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She needed to take a load off.

Serena's body had been _screaming_ this at her for nearly a half an hour. Unfortunately, travel, combat, critical career decisions, a non-stop succession of emotional roller coasters... all these things had worn her to the bone, and now, after having to overcome jet lag as well, she found that the brisk pace she'd intended to get to Slateport with was more like a grueling death march. She'd done quite well so far, so getting there in a hurry was not a particularly pressing objective.

She trudged along, Delphox right behind her - the fox needed time out of the Pokeball, and anyway, she seemed worried about Serena.

Truth be told, Serena was a bit worried about HERSELF. The events of the last few weeks were hitting her like a freight train, and she was still trying to process it, and process the changes that had surrounded her.

And were quietly gnawing at her.

However, she decided that pushing herself until she collapsed was probably not the most efficient travel strategy, and as such she looked for a suitable place to rest, at least for a little while. One thing she couldn't fault Hoenn for was its natural beauty - what she'd seen of it so far had been utterly gorgeous. She'd rarely seen any place so green, or water so clear. Even now she could glance at the river she walked along, while Magikarp flopped under the surface, occasionally jumping up with a great splash. One must have been a little psychic and heard her thoughts, as it leapt up and swung its tail around, splashing her a little.

She giggled, shielding Delphox from the water, lest the splash attack be super effective. A moment of distraction and levity. The place she'd come to wasn't a bad one at all, really.

Fortunately, it also offered good resting spots, and Serena rather quickly found an unoccupied one, in the shade of a large tree, planted close to the water so its roots could drink deeply of the nutrients therein. Making sure Delphox was sufficiently dry, she tromped the rest of the way, before setting down her bag and sagging, leaning against it.

No longer occupied with Magikarp trying to give her an impromptu bath, her thoughts wandered for a time. Delphox sat next to her, making certain not to get TOO close to the water; she likely didn't fancy the thought of getting splashed by another errant Magikarp. Just as well; the fire fox was facing the road and could act as a lookout. She leaned back, relaxing, closing her eyes to rest them.

She must have done a lot more than resting her eyes, though, because the next time she opened them she was waking up with a start, a few scraps of a dream she was having dissipating. She couldn't quite remember what it was about, something about...

...kissing Ash... and him... not...

...oh.

She couldn't remember, but it wasn't particularly good. She glanced around quickly, hoping to find him - or Clemont or Bonnie - and after a few seconds remembered that not only was she apparently having dreams that were probably about rejection, but she was also separated from all of her human friends, and all of their Pokemon who were ALSO her friends. The large party she'd traveled in, reduced to four.

Even though she loved her Pokemon, it was a kick in the gut. She missed all of them. She missed how Clemont would probably be working on a circuit board for another doomed invention, she missed how Bonnie would be asking to read one of her fashion magazines or be singing to Squishie, and she missed Ash just _being_ there.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she looked out at the bubbling creek, trying to wake up enough to think clearly.

She'd missed him most of all. The last thing she saw of him was the shocked look on his face as the escalator broke their kiss and propelled her away... and then an expression of... something... that she couldn't identify, and a smile. It seemed encouraging on an instinctive level, but now, having had many hours to let it stew, doubt began to gnaw at her gut.

Did he like it? Did he even realize what she'd done? There was something about him that was just so **dense** about matters of the heart, even at his age; an especially cynical part of her made her wonder if he even knew why a girl _would_ kiss a boy.

A crawling feeling of doubt touched the back of her mind. It's not like he returned her feelings, she brooded. Just like he hadn't returned the kiss.

She chided herself harshly for thinking that. In truth, she was proud of herself for doing it. Prouder than almost anything she'd ever done; she'd been obsessed with the boy in one way or another for eons, even if it was subtle and only to herself a good portion of the time. The feeling of actually kissing him was beyond compare, and immediately afterwards, she felt victorious, like she could take on the entire world and win.

But Serena, deep down, was a pessimist; her entire life, she'd been pushed into being a Rhyhorn racer, whether she liked it or not. The tension between herself and her mother, despite the woman sincerely wanting only the best for her beloved daughter, had caused Serena to view the world with a deep-seated kind of resignation.

Until Ash changed that.

But without him, it seemed to be coming back. Was her boldest moment a mistake? Did she just prove herself wrong by dumping all of her hopes on that one instant, only for them to be dashed to pieces? She'd been thrilled to have finally done it, thrilled to feel it, thrilled with having steeled herself for it and having gone through with it. But, as tiredness set in on the long flight, she began to wonder, as niggling threads of doubt often pull open the fabric of confidence... was there a reason other than surprise that he hadn't kissed her back?

She didn't know. She tried to convince herself it was because he was too shocked - and he certainly seemed shocked - but that argument seemed to be waning.

Even if Ash didn't return her feelings, however, she knew that much of what he said was true. He was living proof, after all. But still, doubt crept in, and a sort of grim heaviness set into her bones.

She knew, however, that it was entirely possible that she was dwelling on this too much. For all the sunshine and happiness she projected, for all that she loved to bring smiles to the faces of others, Serena herself had a habit of brooding deeply, often feeling powerless to do anything else about her life other than to follow the orders of others. And exhaustion didn't help that much. The flights were long and delayed, and she hadn't gotten much sleep since then, or even before. Everything starting with the tournament became a whirlwind of battle and painstaking recovery.

How was she in any condition to judge what happened? How was she able to levy her opinion on the events of just a few scant days ago? She needed rest and she needed time to process what had happened; only then could she truly be able to make any sort of sense of what surrounded her, rather than mentally flailing in her confusion, desperation, and the creeping sense of loneliness that seemed to be growing stronger since the absence of Bonnie, Clemont, and especially Ash made themselves known. Expecting the sound of Clemont working on a circuit board, seeing Bonnie sing to Squishie, or watching in quiet admiration as Ash trained his Pokemon had become things she had taken for granted, and these small things were sorely missed.

But just as Serena knew the negative emotions she kept bottled up inside, she also knew that they clouded rational and clear thought. Victorious against Lyssandre or not, it had been an emotional and physical ordeal, and in a lot of ways, she was flat-out _exhausted_. She needed to try not to judge anything or anyone too harshly right now, including herself. She needed to be kinder to herself, and she knew it, hard as though that was for her.

Plus, in a way, Ash was depending on her. In a way, she was his work; even if he never loved her, she loved him far too much to make all of his effort to go to waste. She had to at least try, and she WOULD try. Surprising even herself, her confidence in general, or at least her determination to make the attempt, was actually unhindered. Perhaps derived from faith in Ash's work or perhaps a realization that she was no longer the helpless girl she was before, the only thing that gave her trepidation on that front was her unfamiliarity with Contests. That gave her enough pause to seriously doubt this was a wise decision at all; it wasn't made with a lot of time to think it over, after all. But she was set on her course, and truthfully she was not certain she had any better options. Going home to learn how to race was out of the question, and she wasn't sure that she could bear to let Ash see her without at least TRYING to make something more of herself before, as she promised, no matter how badly she'd have loved to have gone to Kanto with him. And there was something that made her seriously wonder if Showcases were the best fit for her, anyway. There was a niggling feeling in the back of her head that she needed something with more substance, and something told her that Contests might be exactly what she would need.

She would see this through to the best of her ability, even if it was a fool's errand.

Don't give up until it's over.

She did her best to ignore the tiny, but slowly strengthening, voice in the back of her mind stating its own opinion on the subject: that it certainly _seemed_ over. That voice seemed to have caught onto something she'd noticed, that Ash very rarely spoke of, let alone spoke TO, most of his former traveling companions, to the best of her knowledge. She was hoping rather fervently that history was not about to repeat itself. She'd certainly be able to remain in touch with Bonnie and Clemont, but they weren't world travelers who had done this half a dozen times before.

She caught Delphox's ears perk out of the corner of her eye. Her starter Pokemon had been out the entire time next to her, familiar and dependable. One of the things that kept her sane was the fact that her Pokemon made sure she'd never truly be completely alone while she had them. At this point, even if she was with Ash, she wouldn't feel right without them; she now knew why he so rarely left his Pokemon behind anywhere other than a Pokemon Center, and even then usually waited for their return before leaving for elsewhere.

"...Delphox? Did you hear something?" she inquired. She'd gotten the impression that Delphox had been worried about her. She ought to apologize, at least when she could gather up the nerve to. Right now she could barely gather up the energy to force herself to her feet.

Delphox most definitely DID hear something, but decided against warning her owner, so she gave a quick shake of the head.

Serena nodded quietly, lowering herself back to a sitting position. She didn't really want to have to deal with anyone anyway, so she was content to simply let Delphox keep an eye out and let her have some quiet.

Her eyes flicked towards the water and she paused in thought. Hm. It had been years since she'd last tried to skip a stone. In fact, probably not since summer camp near Pallet Town. For the heck of it, she decided that she'd give it a shot; Ash showed her how, as she recalled. A quick glance around the bark of the tree and she picked up a rock that she thought might have fulfilled the criteria. Tossing it up and snagging it from the air, she tested its weight and density, and then without a whole lot of fanfare quickly pitched it towards the water.

 **PLONK!**

Straight to the bottom.

Several Magikarp looked at her with their vacant eyes, most of them not much smarter than a regular fish, though she couldn't shake the vague feeling that they were mocking her.

"...how was I supposed to DO this again?" She asked no one in particular, scratching her head slightly.

However, she'd apparently been too lost in her thoughts, as suddenly she heard several footfalls accompanying the sound of shoes crushing grass. "- wha?" Had Delphox somehow missed someone coming? She quickly glanced up...

"...first off, you oughta have a lot flatter stone," commented a very familiar voice, and Serena's neck arced to look at the person next to her. Eyes widened in surprise as she saw who it was.

Although she didn't have to crane her neck long, since he crouched next to her, giving a quick glance at her on the way down, a confident expression crossing his face as he scooped up rock from the ground next to her.

"...Ash?..." she whispered, not entirely certain what to make of this.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu waved at her in greeting, riding atop Ash's shoulder as usual. He casually leapt from Ash's shoulder to her's, and she braced herself out of unconscious reflex, not even realizing what had happened until she'd already done her part as a landing pad with Pikachu affectionately nuzzling her cheek from his new perch. She was still so surprised that she didn't respond, at least not right away; she felt as though her eyes were almost literally bugging out at the sight, and an odd corner of her mind contemplated just how much she may have looked like a cartoon with that expression.

"Then, you should probably be doin' it standing up, lets you get more power and control for the throw." He tossed the rock into the air much as Serena did, snagging it, testing its weight and density informally. "...and then, once it seems alright, you take it..." he pulled back...

"...and THROW it, tryin' to keep it landing on the flat side."

He hurled the stone straight for the stream.

 **PLONK!**

The skipping stone decided to join its brother and change its vocation to 'sinking stone' as it sank to the bottom with only minimal splash, as though it were a lump of lead that Ash threw and not a rock.

"...well, that was embarrassing," Ash admitted to Pikachu aloud. So much for impressing Serena first thing.

"Pika chuuuuu." Pikachu lamented, articulating his unimpressed opinion in Pokespeech, sufficiently melodramatically rendered such that, even if he were around humans too inexperienced to understand the words, the sheer tone would likely convey the mouse's lamentation (and likely the mockery that went along with it).

"You don't need to agree with me that eagerly."

However, Serena really couldn't care whether or not Ash could still skip a stone - or if he ever could in the first place. She wondered, more importantly, whether or not she'd had some sort of stroke in her sleep and was now hallucinating from doubtlessly extreme and probably irreversible brain damage.

"A... ASH?!" she choked out in disbelief. "You're... you're HERE?!"

"...uh, yeah... 'least I sure hope so!" He idly scratched the back of his neck as it seemed like he was trying to come up with something more suave to comment on. Sadly, the whole concept of flirting still flew over his head, though to his credit, he WAS trying at the very least.

Fortunately for him, Serena didn't really care about suaveness. In truth, one thing that attracted her to him was his earnest plainness. She forced herself to her feet, grunting as she gained her balance. "...but... Kanto, you're..."

"...yeah, 'bout that, um." Ash glanced away, cheeks turning slightly red, "Mom kiiiinda caught me mopingaroundthehouse'cuzImissedyouandpulledsomestringstogetmeouthere." The words started out easily enough and turned into a jumble, tumbling out faster than he could think to assemble them into something more coherent.

Serena paused and blinked - she glanced to Delphox, who shrugged as well. "...uh... what?"

Speed talking was not one of Serena's skills, nor was speed listening, it would seem.

Ash backed up and slowed down, grimacing that he had to admit this again, wording changing somewhat as he had more time to process it instead of simply hurling out his emotions before his brain could try to censor them into oblivion. "...after I got home, mom saw I was actually pretty down, 'cuz I missed... everyone..." he chose to be non-specific, still. His reflex to be cautiously guarded about anything related to a possible relationship was still there and still strong. But now was not the time for that; with a brief pause, he forced himself past it and addressed the situation more directly. "...and I _especially_ missed you, particularly after... y'know..." Ash's cheeks burned for an instant as he tried to think of how to phrase it. "...the airport..." he decided on, causing Serena to feel some relief. Apparently he _did_ like it. "...so she, uh... kinda pulled some strings with some people she knew somehow and got me something to do out here in a really big hurry."

"...so... you're..." Serena stammered, still processing what he was saying.

"So, uh..." he scratched the back of his head again, in part for simple need of something to DO with his hands. "...geez, this came out a _lot_ better in my head, you'd think all things considered it'd be easier..." he grimaced a little, mostly trying NOT to look at Serena, but giving her a slight glance, which she replied to with a small, nervous, but obviously sincere smile. "...I can travel with you again. _if you want to_ , I'm not... tryin' to intrude and all, so... uh..."

Serena paused in consideration. Did she want to travel with Ash again? She'd learned so much... she'd wanted to impress him... she wanted to be BETTER for him. She'd promised the next time they met she'd be better.

...the next time they met.

Maybe years from now.

Maybe decades from now.

Maybe never.

Just like the last time she left him. For so long he was little but a memory, a hero that helped her long before she was old enough to determine her path for herself. Fate had intervened, however, given her another chance to replace the one that she was deprived of so long ago, against all probability. She had seized that opportunity for all that it was worth, refusing to simply let it slip away again. She held close to him, to the point that, in the end, she told him that he was one of her goals. He was one of the reasons she was so bent on improving herself... to impress him, to give him what would ultimately be the best possible mate he could ask for.

Would it be so bad if she were to impress him while he was right next to her, instead of at a meeting years from now that might never come?

Suddenly she didn't feel quite so tired anymore.

She must have been quiet for longer than she thought; her reverie was interrupted only when Ash gave her another glance, now starting to look _extremely_ nervous. Even Pikachu was starting to look unsure, nervously fidgeting on her shoulder.

Noticing her gaze, he glanced away quickly, too quickly to notice the growing smile on her face. "I mean it's ONLY IF YOU WANT ME TO, I mean, I... I can do what I need to WITHOUT traveling with you, I'd just... just REALLY REALLY like to, and I - "

 **THUMP.**

Ash found that, while glancing away from Serena might not be hazardous to his health, it might be hazardous to his BALANCE. With no warning, he was suddenly bowled over by a large weight striking his back. A large weight with arms that were wrapped around him and a melodious laugh that he could hear from behind his head now.

" **YES!** "

* * *

They sat next to the river, now, the water but a scant four or five inches away. There was a nervous, but companionable silence between them. One that promised that things would be resolved shortly, but there was still mild trepidation as each worked on figuring out just how to define this... thing... that now existed between them. They were, at once, both further away from each other and far closer to each other than before.

They sat much closer to one another than they would have before, though; instinctively the both of them felt an implicit invitation into each other's personal space. Companionable silence reigned, except for the occasional scratching behind Pikachu's ears by Serena; though the focus of her joy was on Ash, the prospect of most of his Pokemon (save, sadly, Greninja, she thought to herself) joining as well only sweetened the deal. Delphox kept herself busy by keeping a lookout for anyone that might disrupt them; if Team Rocket decided that now was the time to cause problems, then it would be they who would have to prepare for trouble.

"...Ash?..." Serena asked, at last.

Ash glanced over to Serena. She was surprisingly cute, sitting next to him, and if he could muster up the courage, she might not be departing this area without him trying a certain experiment without an escalator.

"Yeah?..."

"...um..." Serena fiddled with her ribbon, The Ribbon, a bit more as she tried to muster up her courage. "...did... you not _know_ that... I liked you?..." Pause. "Like _that_?"

Ash frowned as he glanced away for a moment.

"...there isn't a simple answer for that."

Serena nodded, unsure if he was going to continue.

But he did.

"When I was a kid, my mom and dad... they didn't have the greatest relationship. In fact, I barely remember him at all. He walked out on us when I was really young..." he paused for a moment to regather his thoughts before continuing. "So my mom, she tried her best, but... I got a little scared of... relationships, the whole idea behind it. And... more than a few times I heard my mom talking to other people when she thought I wasn't listening. She said that she thought she might have just been imagining it when she thought that she saw a sign that he liked her. She wondered if maybe it was her fault. Everyone said it wasn't, but... that stuck." He sighed quietly. "I didn't want that. More than anything, I didn't want to BE my father, that way, or to... miss things, or make mistakes like that, like my mother made and watch it spin out of control... plus, well. You know how I am about Pokemon, and I WAS on a Pokemon Journey, and... add that to the fact that I've... never had a girlfriend before..." he trailed off.

Did he have one _now_? He didn't know; he still wasn't sure quite how serious the girl was, although he suspected rather strongly that he would be finding out, and it could very well be in the positive. Serena blushed, which he caught out of the corner of his eye, even while he watched the Magikarp playing under the river.

"...but put that all together, and it's a mix of... just flat-out not GETTING it, and denial, and... thinkin' that I couldn't possibly be liked back." He smirked just a little. "I don't have a whole lot to offer other than a lot of Pokemon battling knowledge," adding quietly. Contrary to popular belief, Ash had his own confidence problems, at least at times, even if he knew how to keep people from seeing it in most cases.

"That's not true!" Serena exclaimed, almost slightly affronted that he felt so badly about himself. Fortunately, this time around there was no snow for her to use to make her point, though considering the fact that she regretted that little incident more than he did, she was all the more determined to pound the idea into his head without blunt force trauma. "You're strong and you're brave. You're funny and you care about your Pokemon more than just about anyone else I've met. You're a LOT smarter than ANYONE gives you credit for. You ALWAYS make time for me whenever I need it. You don't know what I was like before you, Ash! I just kept pushing through with Mom's Rhyhorn racing training, and I didn't think I had any real way out... until..." she smiled a little. "Until I saw that little boy that I made friends with in summer camp sticking his neck out for his Pikachu. And I thought he was going to die right in front of me on television..." Her voice hitched a little bit; she never did talk about that little detail much. She pushed past it. "...and he DIDN'T. But I felt like someone, somewhere, was telling me to find him... so I did." A hand slid over to gently lie atop one of his where it lay on the ground.

"...and it was the best decision I ever made." she finished. "Any girl who wouldn't find something to like about you would be an idiot. But even if none of that was there... I fell for you because you're you, Ash. You're still that sweet little boy that helped a strange, scared girl all those years ago."

Ash was silent for a moment; though he said nothing, he was rather touched.

"'n I'm glad I did..." Ash said, with a smile. "...but I dunno if you've got a very common opinion. Sure didn't seem like it before," Ash muttered a little. "Not with the people I traveled with before."

"...you've never talked about them much," Serena commented, listening for some insight as to Ash's past.

"...my friends have had a habit of disappearing. I've tried to stay in contact with them as best as I could, but aside from Brock and Tracey, it hasn't worked out. Mom thinks it isn't my fault, and she might be right, but it still hurts." Ash pulled up his free hand to hug his knees to his chest, resting his chin atop them. "...one of them, though? She was a girl, little older than me, I met her on my first day of my Pokemon journey. Misty's her name. We fought like cats 'n dogs, and that was on GOOD days. I dunno how Brock put up with us, but... even from the start, I think?... I... started likin' her." He paused. "And that never stopped."

Taking a deep breath and exhaling it, he continued, some instinct causing his hand to flip around and grasp Serena's. He wasn't sure why he did it then, but maybe he wanted to reassure Serena that Misty wasn't competition.

"She had to leave, though. Her airheaded sisters ran the town gym and left her to run it in their place on her own for a year. I kept in contact with her. A few things happened, and then... I'm still not sure what caused it, but she stopped responding to me so much, and eventually, not at all." A tinge of bitterness in his voice. "I even changed where I was going to go next, doubled back to the Battle Frontier in Kanto. She dropped off pretty quick, though, even though I told her that she could come any time she wanted... but I got... a feeling that keeping trying wasn't a good idea. So I went to Sinnoh and around that time, I lost touch completely."

He hugged his knees slightly harder, having little else to physically dissipate his frustration. "To this day I still don't know why. I don't know that I ever will. Mom says it was probably because she has issues. She's probably right. She did have issues. Big ones. She was a runaway and I think her fighting with me was some kinda defense. Something hurt her. Something bad, and she wouldn't let me help fix it, or anyone else, probably." He sighed quietly.

"But, I liked her. _That way_." He still couldn't quite use the other 'L' word. Not just yet; he was still pushing his way through his barriers here, and it was a slow process. "Other people said she liked me. We denied it. I... don't know for sure, but lookin' back, they were probably right. But apparently she STOPPED liking me, so..." He frowned. "...I wasn't too sure if I really wanted to... stick my neck out, I guess, like that."

Serena squeezed his hand quietly, turning to face him more fully.

"...and so I traveled around, and... well, I met friends. Good friends. Friends I thought I'd keep for a lifetime, but they just... most of 'em dropped off." He shook his head. "Mom has some ideas why, and maybe she's right, but that didn't bring 'em back, so I guess I just got USED to it, and then... all the sudden I have Clemont and Bonnie and YOU and it feels like _home_ again." There was warmth in his voice, there, the strange, satisfying feeling when the group just clicked like when he was with Brock and Misty all that time ago. "It was fun traveling with everyone else, but this... this was something else. Something I hadn't had since before my first group split up. And I liked it."

He flicked his eyes towards the ground, and continued to speak with a sigh. "...and then we had to separate. So I braced myself and I tried to act happy even though it was ripping me apart. Because if you guys were doing what you wanted to do, I wasn't about to be in the way. And then..."

He glanced over towards Serena and smiled just a little.

"...and that's when you told me I was your goal... 'n then of all times, you decided to kiss me. By the time I figured out what was happening... I mean, _really_ figure it out... well the whole thing was a mess." He shook his head, looking away again, but not missing Serena's small smile. "...not that I didn't like it," he added. His enthusiasm at that moment was quite genuine, to say the least.

"...but I was trying NOT to think about it on the plane, not that THAT worked, so it was already running in my head when I got home. I didn't have much to do after I walked in the front door and talked to my mom for a while, so in, like, an hour after that, everything hit like a freight train... that's when I really got down. I felt like a bunch of holes bein' ripped in me, right next to all the holes I already had ripped into me from before."

He recalled sitting in the dark before his mother found him late that night. It was not one of his best moments, he knew that much. "And in the middle of all of this was another hole, just like the one Misty made. It was starting to rip open right in front of me, even faster than before, and probably was gonna be even worse than before, 'cuz I was pretty sure you liked me, and I was pretty sure I liked you right back, and I have for a while. And even though I knew it was happening, there was nothing, **_nothing_** I could do about it, so I just had to sit there and be helpless and watch as it all happens all OVER again..." He squeezed Serena's hand gently, but he squeezed his free hand into a fist in frustration, arm stilll wrapped around his legs.

"Except worse this time, since I KNEW how it was gonna turn out. _Again_." He could still feel the bitter taste of anticipating what seemed to be the inevitable, Serena drifting away in a matter of months or even weeks, with Ash likely never to lay eyes on her again unless it was through the lens of a camera of one sort or another. History was going to repeat, and this time he was going to know what was happening as it happened and feel every last bit of it as she drifted away from him. "I've always tried to avoid keeping other people from reaching their dreams, no matter how bad it hurt me, and I didn't want to end up doing that, and I figured that trying to stop anything happening might do just that, until..." He released his fist, letting his head fall forward to rest against his knees.

With that, Serena let go of his hand... and reached around and wrapped her arms around him, one around the knees he had pressed against his chest, the other around his back, almost as if he was going to pick up his folded-up form and toss him to the Magikarp. Fortunately she did not have such a nefarious, or at least wet, plan, and instead just squeezed him into a very awkward, but heartfelt, hug.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that," she whispered. "I wish I knew, I would've tried to help."

"It's nothing to worry about at this point," Ash stated, the awkward angle and the fact that he was half-folded like an accordion making it impossible to hug Serena back like he wanted to. He settled for a somewhat uncoordinated half-hug with the arm that was pressed against the girl already.

"Well, at least it explains why you didn't kiss back," Serena said. "I wasn't sure if it was because you didn't like me, or if you were too shocked. You certainly seemed happy enough when I told you about improving myself for you... and you certainly didn't seem to MIND it..." Serena admitted, blush readily on her cheeks. It seemed she was still a little bashful with her feelings; it would take time to get used to the fact that they were already known, and seemed to be reciprocated. "...but then I thought about how you didn't kiss back, and I wasn't sure..." she trailed off, not quite willing to admit that her pessimism had started chewing on her in his absence. She'd have to work on that.

"...the fact that it was an escalator didn't help," Ash admitted, "It's a little hard to kiss someone who's suddenly eight feet away and halfway downstairs."

Serena simply smiled, slightly embarrassed. It _was_ true, after all. "It was my last chance, so I figured I better take it, even if there were better places." She glanced down in thought. "I think the fact it was moving made it easier to gather up the courage to do it. Being dragged away by a machine's a pretty easy out if something goes wrong..." she trailed off, contemplating how she might have reacted had things gone badly. For all she knew, Ash may well have somehow remained at the 'girls are icky!' phase of a five year old boy, although considering how he reacted when they first met he didn't seem the type to really pick up that sort of behavior in the first place.

Ash turned his head towards Serena, only now realizing how close their faces were.

"...it bothered you I didn't kiss you back?" the teenager wondered as he flicked his vision towards her eyes. He'd always known they were a pretty blue, but he'd never gotten to look at them so closely before... except once, a few days ago. His heart sped up and he rallied his courage together.

He knew what he was going to do next.

Serena fidgeted. "It did. I - "

Serena was cut off, though, as Ash moved in swiftly and pressed his lips to her's. Her eyes widened in shock for an instant as she felt the pressure on her lips, reflexively taking a breath sharply as she found herself tasting Ash once again, but soon her brain engaged fully and she kissed back.

They held it for several seconds, lips pressed against one another's, taking their time, before slowly, almost reluctantly, breaking the embrace. Unwilling to end it quite so soon, Ash protracted it another second with a final, quick peck on her lips, before pulling away.

The two were still for a moment as they looked at each other, surprisingly comfortable despite the nervousness, faces only a few inches away. It was unusual to be so close to one another, but neither minded. Their natural nervousness was still present, but gave way in part to a paradoxical feeling of relaxation, as a sense of rightness swept over them both.

Yeah.

This was right. It _fit_.

They fit.

Ash licked his lips slightly, still tasting her just a bit. "Better?" he inquired.

Serena took a moment to parse the question, still slightly dazed and giddy, before she began to nod in agreement, a bit more vigorously than she really needed to.

"Yep."

After a moment, Serena's head stilled, and the two looked at each other's eyes once again; his chocolate brown, and her brilliant blue. They both glanced at each other's lips once again, close enough to breathe each other's breath.

However, to the chagrin of romance authors everywhere, they did not move in to kiss once more, let alone break into a passionate, frenzied embrace.

Instead, and perhaps more naturally, they abruptly burst into a simultaneous fit of giggles. Serena leaned forward and pressed her forehead against Ash's, who didn't seem to mind being her leaning post.

If nothing else, at least they remembered how to be friends and enjoy each other's presence while trying to figure out all this romance stuff.

* * *

"Start a Battle Frontier?" Serena asked. The afternoon sun was bearing down, so the two saw no particular reason to hurry back to their travels. Considering the last few weeks, and the sudden relief at regaining each other's company, they needed the break to just unwind a little, anyway. "That's what you're here for?"

"Help start it," Ash corrected. Leaning up against the bark of the tree, he munched on a cookie. Fortunately Serena was better equipped in the food department than he was, to the surprise of absolutely no one anywhere. Pikachu was busy demolishing a bottle of ketchup, while Delphox gnawed on some Pokechow, and Serena herself finished off a sandwich. "I don't really know how Mom managed to pull the strings. But apparently after Lance and Brandon got wind of it, the whole thing just snowballed and they didn't just accept the idea; by morning, they flat-out asked me, and sent me here on the first flight I could get on." Ash felt a little bragging bubbling up; as he matured, his ego was subdued, but nevertheless, it was still there. Besideswhich, if he couldn't brag for Serena, who could he brag for?

Serena, of course, seemed to have no problem with it whatsoever; to her, he was already a champion. He was her champion, if nothing else, even if no League in the world recognized the treasure they had in their midst. "Amazing, as always, Ash," she replied. "What's it involve?"

"Varies based on the place. There's a lot of flexibility, and since Contests have a looser schedule than gym battles it oughta work out well. We might have to split up for a few days a couple of times around the middle of Contest season, but it should be cleared up in a month and a half and we'd be together for almost all of that time anyway. Basically I help advise on typing, I help to test out the Frontier Brains they're considering, try to help figure out any logistical issues to make sure the Pokemon are taken care of, provide input on local rules and help compare them to other rules that are League-specific to see how they measure up... a lot of things. Small stuff you'd probably never think of until you're trying to put it all together yourself. And," he added, "I also need to capture local Pokemon and evaluate the battling style of local trainers, so I'm not gonna just be sittin' there bored out of my skull tryin' to fill out a bunch of forms nobody cares about. In fact, that's probably the biggest part of the job."

Quietly, Ash turned a few thoughts over in his head about that. Delia having the ear of several people in high places was likely not just because she'd been Professor Oak's student. And, he thought to himself, back with Entai and the Unown, for a woman who had been kidnapped and mind controlled, Delia seemed to handle herself a lot more like this was a regular day at the shop as opposed to what most people would regard as the most frightening experience she'd had in her life. He filed away in the back of his head that he ought to ask her what she was doing when she was his age; perhaps she knew more about Pokemon training than he was aware of. Perhaps a great deal more. It certainly answered a few questions he never even thought to ask in the first place about his family.

Serena paused and thought for an instant. "...well, we might need to put that on hold. There's... something I need to do on my own. Just on my own."

And Ash felt his heart drop into his gut. It simultaneously somehow managed to squash his appetite, something many would find hard to believe. Did he miscalculate? What just happened? Did he do something wrong? Some part of him panicked slightly and he tried to keep himself from overreacting.

"...well, if... if that's the case, then..."

However, Serena noticed the sudden expression on his face, as well as the signs of jet lag and the exact same exhaustion she felt. She realized she ought to be careful; her poor boyfriend (was he now? Might as well be, at this point) was probably just as brittle as she was at the moment. She sped to dispel the ambiguity.

"NO!" she reached over, setting her sandwich on her lap and grasping one of his hands with both of her's.

"Nononononono **NO**. I want to travel with you, I do. I just..." She glanced aside, feeling somewhat silly. "...want to... register for Contests... by myself."

Ash blinked.

Suffice it to say, that seemed rather unusual.

"You not being here left a really big empty spot. And it hurt. I... kinda depend on you, and I kinda think I WANT to depend on you." She shyly admitted. "But the thing is that you wanted me to be able to get up and go on my own. And I can, now. So. Even though it's just this? I want to do this by myself. Even if it's just for a few days."

Ash felt pure relief. A few days was no problem. "...for a moment I thought you didn't wanna travel with me after all..."

"Don't even think that." Serena reached over and grabbed Ash's hand once more, giving a solid squeeze. "I'm hoping we're traveling together for... a really, _REALLY_ long time," she stated. It was true; not only for her own sake, but also she wanted to spare Ash having to deal with the gaping holes left by absent friends. Or, at the very least, they could deal with them together.

If things went her way - their way - she suspected they'd be figuring out their next step after Hoenn together, as a team, and perhaps from then on.

"And I'll probably be calling you all the time anyway until then," she added. She'd tried calling him before, but his phone never responded and he never answered, likely due to traveling. She suspected he may have run into exactly the same problem contacting her, which would hopefully no longer interfere. "...just... I know it's strange, but in my own way, I'd like to show off your work."

Ash blinked slightly, feeling his cheeks warm again. He suspected that it would be a while before he stopped blushing around her, if he ever did, though this was special, and in a very strange way, a very deep compliment. "...I..." He swallowed as he searched for the words. "I'm flattered. I'd... I'd have done it for anyone, but - "

"- but you did it for me and that made all the difference." Serena nodded. "So I'll meet up with you in Slateport, but call me anytime and I'll call you, and if there's trouble I can rush right over there instead. Alright?"

"Yeah, that works. And I can catch up pretty quick if you run into problems yourself or somethin'." Ash said. "There's someone I need to visit, anyway. An old friend who I'd really like to check up on."

"You said you'd been in Hoenn before... who? Someone that traveled with you then?" Serena inquired.

"A girl named May," Ash replied. "She's one of the friends I lost contact with. When I talked to Mom, she said that May, at least, seemed to look up to me more than I realized, and she might want to make me proud. Might have decided not to contact me until she thought she had something to show for it. Her home's around Petalberg, and her little brother's a friend of mine, too. Got his Pokemon license recently, or should have. I promised him a battle... and I wanted to let May know that I was proud of her no matter what." He glanced towards Serena, and gently tousled a little of her hair. He was coming to like this apparent, newfound freedom to touch Serena more easily; he had quietly wanted to for some time, and he definitely liked it. He'd often wondered if her hair was as soft as it looked; it was now obvious it was even softer. For what it was worth, Serena seemed to like the contact and was quite happy to let him toy with her hair.

"...I'm proud of you, too, by the way," he added, eyes falling upon her with a serious expression. If his mother was right, he was not about to let his companions doubt his faith in them ever again. "No matter what. Don't ever think I'm not."

Serena nodded, smiling... but she flicked her gaze slightly upwards, at Ash's cap. A thought flashed through her mind. Abruptly, she put on a stern look. "Well, in THAT case? Alright. But I'm gonna need some collateral to make SURE you show up at Slateport..."

"Eh?" Ash blinked, in surprise. Jealous? He wondered...

"Look over there." She nodded, towards something behind Ash.

The Pokemon trainer dutifully half-turned. "What? Where?" He didn't see anything, trying to identify something worth notice. He saw a Swellow pecking the ground - was that it? Why did Serena want him to pay attention to that?

Perfect. With that, Serena reached over...

And promptly snagged his cap right off of his head. She removed her own hat and plopped the cap down in its place. "Still fits!" In one smooth motion she snagged her sandwich in one hand and hooked her bag's strap with the arm that held her hat, before springing to her feet and attempting a mad sprint towards the road. "See ya in Slateport! **MOVE IT DELPHOX!** " The pair dashed for the main road, Delphox laughing the entire way.

Ash raised his fist, standing, but not bothering to give chase. "YOU BET YOU WILL! I'LL BE THERE AND I'LL _GET_ THAT HAT BACK!" he roared aloud, trying his best to sound at least halfway irritated and attempting to remove the smile from his face.

He failed on both counts.

His protests were answered with what he thought was a promise to 'call you later,' if he heard it right in between Serena's peels of laughter as she dashed out of hearing range.

She'd be calling, he was sure, if nothing more than to harass him about the hat. Considering how depressed she seemed when he came, though? A small price to pay.

Pikachu, meanwhile, was giggling on the ground.

"Ka pika pika chu pika pika..."

"...'She stole my heart and then my cap' would **_not_** look good on my tombstone, Pikachu," Ash retorted, once again trying to look or sound irritated.

Once again he failed.

"C'mon," he said, scooping up his backpack. "Maybe May'll at least not see fit to hold my stuff hostage."

"Pika chu ka pika."

"Yes I _know_ it worked, you don't have to point that out!"

* * *

Several thousand miles away, however, things were not nearly so heartwarming.

"I THOUGHT YOUSE SAID DA TWERP'D FALL FER IT FER SURE!" screamed a Meowth, surprisingly articulate for a Pokemon, as he scrambled away from a Hyper Beam.

"DON'T LOOK AT ME! THIS WAS JESSIE'S IDEA!" cried out a purple-haired man, wearing an 'R' shirt, and a Wobuffett clinging to his back. "I'D NEVER EVEN HEARD OF ALOLA BEFORE ALL THIS!" Thunderbolt shots cascaded after him - probably from one of those Raichus with bizarre ears that seemed to be able to fire off telekinetic attacks, of all things. "LET ALONE THAT THERE WAS A SCHOOL HERE!"

"After 'em!" called out a human voice, coming from a green-haired girl with a flower in her hair who seemed to be leading the charge, along with about two dozen others - some apparently students, and others, likely teachers. Along with them were at least as many Pokemon as human pursuers, a few of which had the remains of extremely crude-looking traps attached to them as evidence of Team Rocket's latest failure.

"HOW WAS _I_ SUPPOSED TO KNOW IT WAS A POKEMON BATTLING SCHOOL?!" a crimson-haired woman snapped back at her companions, in an outfit matching the other, barely avoiding a burst of Magical Leaf. "LET ALONE THAT THEY'D HAVE A BUNCH OF PEOPLE AS GOOD AS GYM LEADERS AND THE _**ELITE FOUR**_ AS TEACHERS!"

The trio scrambled towards a giant hot-air balloon on the beach. The air transport, inexplicably designed in the likeness of the smartest of the team members (Meowth, naturally, and by a considerable margin) looked as though it were surveying over the land impassively, indifferent to the plight of its pilots. It was their ticket off the island, and at this point, likely their only hope. The fact that it marked them plain as day as being Team Rocket eluded them as it always had, however, which suggested a sobering assessment of the group's total IQ if that was the idea of their smartest member.

"IT WAS ON DA FRICKIN' ENVELOPE! DIDYA READ DA FRICKIN' ENVELOPE?!" Meowth bellowed out as he scrambled forward.

"WHO HAS TIME FOR _THAT_?!" Jessie snapped back.

"IF YA HAD TIME TA THINK ABOUT DA TWERP PLAYIN' HOOKEY FOR ALL DESE 'EARS AND YA THOUGHTA DRAGGIN 'IM 'ERE YA COULDA DONE _THAT_ MUCH! DO THEY EVEN MAKE TRAINERS GO TA SCHOOL IN KANTO ANYMORE?!" Meowth replied.

James, despite his status as the 'slow learner' of the trio, managed to keep more focused on escaping than passing around the blame, and as such dedicated his efforts fully to keeping his head firmly attached to his shoulders, adjusting his posture even as he ran so Wobuffett wouldn't be sent flying off his back. "KEEP RUNNING, WE'RE ALMOST THERE - "

Then suddenly they noticed motion from one of the palm trees.

...which was not actually a palm tree. Rather, an Exeggutor, or at least, an abomination of a parody of one. It leveled its eyes down at the intruders bothering its human and Pokemon friends with an obvious lack of amusement.

"- OOOH, I DUN' LIKE DA LOOK THAT THING'S GIVIN' US!" Meowth peered at the foreign Pokemon, which he did not recognize. All things considered, he would rather be not recognizing it over TV, as opposed to not recognizing it while it was five feet away.

"Uhhh, nice... thing?" James pleaded gently.

" **EGGY! SMACK 'EM!** " screamed out a blue haired girl with a strange-looking hair decoration. The massive plantmon, having no apparent reluctance to battle, grinned from all of its heads, which hung from the top of the palm tree structure. With one swift motion, it swooped down with its massive trunk-neck, leveling a tremendous blow that smashed all three of the trio at once, launching them into the sky with a corresponding triple CRACK noise.

"LOOKS LIKE TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNnnnnnnn - " screamed out the trio as they flew over the horizon in complete defiance of conventional physics, a small burst of light and a peculiar _ding_ audible to those below.

The humans and their Pokemon panted, skidding to a stop as they gathered on the beach.

"Have any idea of what _that_ was all about?" inquired the blunette to the greenette, who shrugged.

"Nope."

* * *

 **So. Hopefully that didn't disappoint anyone. This was never really intended to be anything huge or profound (and as-is, it is way longer than I thought it'd be!), but a reaction to the whole kiss-episode, and also the theme of ditching everyone at the end of every arc. I vastly prefer situations where crucial characters don't depart because it was the end of the season and marketing said so, as if some of my other stories didn't already hint at that. This is probably going to be fairly stand-alone, especially since this pairing is a bit hard for me to write for, though if I come up with something worthwhile and enough people seem like they like it, I _might_ (big might) come up with a continuation. It'll have to be more than the somewhat obvious "and Ash and Serena traveled around together for years, Ash became a Champion, Serena became Kalos Queen/some-other-title-related-to-Showcases-or-Contests, and when they settled down a little they had eight kids, the end."  
**

 **As for people who were expressing interest in Delia's past? Well, yes, there's a story behind that. I may or may not put it in story form, but if I do, it'll probably be a while from now (and it might not be in this continuity, and would likely not be Amourshipping-based). I don't want to write any checks my butt can't cash in terms of stories (I feel like I'm already heading in that direction!), and I'm already going to be pretty pressed for time for a while here.**

 **In any case, thank you for reading and for slogging through all that text to the end. Please review, if you're so inclined!**


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